To promote their latest film Elemental, Pixar and Disney delighted fans with a captivating mall tour across multiple cities, culminating in the San Francisco Bay Area. We had the incredible opportunity to engage in a conversation with Directing Animator Gwen Enderoglu about the process of making the film.
So what is the Elemental Pixar & Disney movie about?
Elemental, Pixar and Disney’s latest feature film is brought to life through stunning animation. This story invites viewers into Element City, where fire, water, earth, and air residents coexist harmoniously. Ember (Leah Lewis), a spirited and “fiery” young woman, is the film’s primary protagonist, whose friendship with Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a lighthearted and “go-with-the-flow” guy, challenges her perspectives on their shared reality.
Details of the Elemental Pixar & Disney mall experience
The experience was part of a multi-city mall tour that stopped at five different cities: New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Mateo. For the final leg of the tour, we made our way to Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo, California, just outside of San Francisco in the beautiful Bay Area.
To kick off the experience, we were fortunate to have Lisa Cabello, a Disney spokesperson, as our guide. Having visited each city with the Elemental Pixar and Disney mall tour, Lisa shared how meaningful this last stop was to her, being a native of the Bay Area. It was also particularly significant considering that the Bay Area is home to Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California, just north of Oakland.
The immersive experience consisted of five distinct stations, with four of the five being centered around the four elemental types showcased in the film: water, fire, air, and earth. As visitors ventured into the experience, they were welcomed by the “Wetro” train, a remarkable water-inspired subway featured in the movie. To kick-start the adventure, life-sized models of the main characters, Ember and Wade, were strategically positioned on a bench, inviting visitors to capture unforgettable moments with them.
- The initial station, which revolved around water, featured a hydration station where visitors could quench their thirst and engage in a playful interactive photo opportunity.
- The central theme of the second station was fire, revolving around Ember’s family shop known as the Fireplace. Visitors had the opportunity to create the family’s renowned dish, hot-cold truffles, to bring home. This experience was made possible through a partnership with the event sponsor, I’m the Chef Too, who aims to combine food, STEM, and the Arts to provide an educational and enjoyable experience.
- The air station drew inspiration from the exhilarating “airball” sporting events in Elemental, Pixar and Disney’s latest, which combine soccer and basketball in an aerial setting. Visitors had the thrilling opportunity to navigate a wind tunnel and compete for a chance to win a free movie ticket to see the film.
- Next, visitors could unleash their artistic talent at the Elemental Pixar Learn to Draw station. They had the opportunity to sketch the beloved main characters of the movie with guidance from skilled Pixar artists. This delightful experience combined the joy of drawing with invaluable lessons from the experts themselves.
- The journey concluded at the earth station, where visitors could get their own apple seeds to take home and plant. Additionally, they had the opportunity for an unforgettable photo with two beloved characters from the film, Clod and Fern Grouchwood.
Interview with Gwen Enderoglu, Directing Animator of Disney Pixar’s Elemental
(Quinn Ahrens, who holds a BFA in Animation, joined Hollywood.com for this interview)
Ben Ahrens: What aspect of the animation process was most challenging for you?
Gwen Enderoglu: I came on pre-production; which is the time when we’re getting the rigs up and going, getting everything ready for the team, and figuring out the style of motions for the film. I think the thing that was most daunting to us was that computers are not good at doing organic things — they’re very good at doing things that are structured. That’s where they excel. So we knew that was going to require the animators to go above and beyond to add that organic use into their processes. And so I think we were really daunted by, frankly, just how much work and how labor intensive that was going to be on the team; and a lot of our problem-solving was about ‘how can we make this easier,’ so that the animators can stay focused on the performance and looking for ways to really exploit the elemental-ness without being bogged down by all the extra labor.
Ben Ahrens: For sure, that definitely seems challenging. Working with all the different kinds of elements and everything, that’s very impressive.
Gwen Enderoglu: It’s really important for each of those elements to feel like it had their own style of motion. So with the earth characters, I know they’re not one of the top two [ elements ] for us, but we were looking at stop motion references to see if they would move in a blockier, or less organic and flowy way. And then we ranked them all by [ metrics ] like, what their weight would be because Pixar’s all about truth to materials. So the way that influences this film was like, okay, air is the lightest, right? They might not even touch the ground when they walk. Fire comes after that, it’s very gaseous, pertinent movement and it’s got upward drafting energy. Water is heavier, it’s much more grounded in its contact and then earth, being the heaviest, they barely get their feet off the ground. But those little details, we could just layer into all of our choices. And it just really rounded out the world.
Ben Ahrens: In a previous interview with your colleague Allison [ Rutland ], she mentioned how [ the animation team ] doesn’t typically collaborate with the effects team very often, but did for this film. So I wanted to know, what was a way that you had to expand on your existing workflow and change the way that you did things with this film?
Gwen Enderoglu: Allison is right on about that. Typically, we do our shot, we run final, and then, a few months later, it’s like, ‘oh, cool. Effects added this thing into the shot. That looks awesome.’ But we had to start early conversations with them because this was suddenly about our character performance. These were effects on our characters not effects on the world around our characters. So we were collaborating early in pre-production, iterating together, and we knew that the animators were going to have to see the performance with the effects on it before it left our department, for us to know that we really nailed the performance. One way we collaborated with them is that we created this thing called the EmotionScope, which is the place where animators could set dials that would change the shading and effects simulations, and it would sort of trigger a pre-designed set of controls. So when Ember got angrier, it wasn’t just a color shift that happened; her fire got angrier and lasted longer, it raged a little bit more, there were more embers, and more tear-offs were coming off of her. And so we had to find a way to collaborate with the team to develop these controls so that it was woven deeper into the performance to really connect the emotion between the elements and effects.
Quinn Ahrens: I was actually at D23 back in September, and saw the very first announcement about [ Elemental ]. Were you on the project at that point, or did you come in later?
Gwen Enderoglu: Yeah. I want to say I was on it then, I was on the film for 18 months. So as a directing animator, we’re one of the first animators to get on in pre-production and I was the ‘animation buddy’ for Ember. So that means, as soon as they were ready to figure her out for production, I was collaborating with the rigging and modeling artists, which are part of the characters team, and figuring out [ Ember’s ] control. And for her, it was really about figuring out her design and how we can get these hair combs to work so that, when she was essentially lit on fire, we were getting the silhouette and design out of her that we were looking for. So we spend in pre-production, anywhere from six months to a year before we started our first shot. And then we spent about 12 or 13 months in actual shot production on this film. So I’m pretty sure when the announcement was made, we were already in it and we’re like, ‘Oh my god, the world is finally seeing it!’
Quinn Ahrens: As a woman in animation, what are your tips and tricks? I know a lot of people that graduated with me, they’re having a hard time getting into animation. I don’t work there currently, it’s always a dream — still a dream. So what are your tips for that?
Gwen Enderoglu: It is a very hard industry, and it takes intense perseverance. You know, for me in my journey, I was fortunate to get a job out of school that would help me build my portfolio. But I applied to Pixar four times until I got it, so it was an eight-year journey for me to get to know what was my dream job in the industry. Being bold, asking someone out to coffee, asking someone for advice, because the network that you create is how you’re going to advance your career. I got my job at Pixar because a friend that I went to school with was working at Pixar and said, now’s a great time because timing is a big part of it. And so those contacts that you make through your education and your early jobs in the industry, it’s your network that’s going to set you off on your career.
Ben Ahrens: That’s awesome. What motivates you in moving forward with your career and what makes you excited to work at Pixar?
Gwen Enderoglu: We’re so lucky. I mean, I’ve had other experiences elsewhere in the industry, and there is just no place like Pixar in terms of collaboration or the kindness of the people that are there. They, as a company, want you to have a home here. They want you to grow and have an outlook on where you want to go with your journey. And I would say right now for me, what excites me is that I’m a mother of young kids, and getting to tell stories that I can watch through their eyes — there’s nothing like it in the world. It’s so special.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)
Elemental Pixar and Disney’s latest animated feature is now playing in theaters. Grab your tickets today through the Hollywood.com app!
